Named 72nd Postmaster General of the United States of America on June 1, 2001, Jack Potter has led the Postal Service to record levels of service, customer satisfaction, efficiency, and financial performance.

 With the 2006 enactment of the first comprehensive postal legislation since 1970, Potter has positioned the Postal Service to take advantage of the law’s pricing flexibility and other innovative features to drive the business growth necessary to support its mandate of providing affordable, universal service to the nation. This builds on his strong and continued focus on generating revenue, reducing costs, improving service, and achieving results with a customer-focused, performance-based culture. 

Potter championed the development of a strong privacy program, resulting in the Postal Service being named the most trusted government agency — and one of the 10 most trusted organizations in the nation — by the respected Ponemon Institute. A recent Roper poll found that the American people view the Postal Service more favorably than any other federal agency. 

His work to enhance the workplace environment and relationships with unions and management associations contributed to record levels of safety and employee satisfaction. Computerworld named the Postal Service one of the best places to work in information and technology. Fortune chose the Postal Service one of the 50 Best Companies for Minorities, and Careers & the dis-ABLED recognized it as public-sector employer of the year. 

Taking advantage of the Postal Service’s unrivalled access — at Post Offices, online, and through its carrier network — a stream of creative new products and services has increased customer convenience. These include Click-N-Ship and free Package Pickup, flat-rate and prepaid Priority Mail shipping boxes, reduced prices for Priority Mail to overseas military addresses, expansion of the overnight Express Mail network, and the Forever Stamp, to help consumers easily navigate price changes.

A Bronx native, Potter began as a postal clerk in New York in 1978. He and his wife, Maureen, have two children. He earned a degree in economics at Fordham University and a master’s degree as a Sloan Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been chief operating officer, vice president of Labor Relations, and in a number of other senior operational positions, both at postal headquarters and in the field.

Potter sits on the Postal Service Board of Governors and is vice chairman of the International Post Corporation, an association of 23 national posts in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. He chairs the Kahala Posts Group, an Asia-Pacific alliance that includes the United States, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. A member of the president’s National Hire Veterans Committee, he was awarded American University’s 2007 Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership for extraordinary effectiveness in public service.

February 2009